The new NVIDIA GeForce 301.42 WHQL drivers are now available to download. Building upon the 301.24 beta release that enabled NVIDIA FXAA, Adaptive VSync, Frame Rate Target and Surround features on all GeForce 8-series and later GPUs, the 301.42 WHQL drivers add official 4-way GTX 670 support and smaller changes. The new 301.42 WHQL drivers also include performance improvements of up to 20% compared to the previous WHQL release, in addition to many new 3D Vision and SLI profiles.

NVIDIA FXAA Technology

The majority of today’s games allow players to enable Multisample
Anti-Aliasing (MSAA), either as part of a preset as in The Elder Scrolls
V: Skyrim, or as an in-game option. Anti-aliasing is a GPU-powered technique used to remove jagged,
distracting object edges, and to enhance overall image fidelity.
Unfortunately, MSAA is a particularly demanding anti-aliasing technique,
reducing frame rates by a significant degree.

With the release of the GeForce 301.42 WHQL driver, a high-speed,
shader-based anti-aliasing technique can be applied directly to games through the NVIDIA Control Panel. Nvidia claims that the NVIDIA FXAA technique is up to 60% faster than 4xMSAA, and can produce results equal
to or better than the anti-aliasing solution. Furthermore, FXAA
is able to anti-alias increasingly-popular transparent textures.

To activate NVIDIA FXAA, go to the ‘Manage
3D Settings’ section of the NVIDIA Control Panel. Alternatively, enable
it on a per-title basis using the ‘Program Settings’ tab.
Note that Control Panel FXAA will not be used if a game already
features built-in NVIDIA FXAA support. In these cases, the FXAA option
will be greyed-out in the game’s profile in the Program Settings tab.

NVIDIA Adaptive VSync

Many gamers enable Vertical Synchronization (VSync) to prevent
screen-tearing, an unsightly occurrence caused by frame rates exceeding a
monitor’s refresh rate. The downside is the occasional and equally
annoying stutter when frame rates drop below the locked VSync frame
rate, and again when they return to the locked rate.To fix the problem, the GeForce 301.42 WHQL drivers come loaded with
NVIDIA Adaptive VSync, an automated technique that disables VSync when
frame rates fall below the locked rate, and re-enables it when they
return to the locked rate, reducing stuttering whilst
still preventing tearing.

To enable NVIDIA Adaptive VSync, open the NVIDIA Control Panel,
browse to ‘Manage 3D Settings’, click the ‘Global Settings’ tab, and
scroll down the list to the option. Alternatively, enable it on a per-profile basis through the ‘Program Settings’ tab.

NVIDIA Surround Enhancements

The GeForce 301.42 WHQL drivers also introduce several new NVIDIA Surround
features for our multi-monitor users.

NVIDIA Surround Accessory Display: Enable a fourth ‘Accessory Display’ to check emails, browse the web, or
access other applications while in-game. This feature is supported on
the GeForce GTX 680. On prior generation GPUs, this feature is supported
in NVIDIA Surround mode with a third graphics card.

NVIDIA Desktop Management: Maximize applications to a single physical display when in Surround mode.

Using third-party tools such as EVGA Precision X, all NVIDIA GPU
users can now enable NVIDIA Frame Rate Target to limit application frame
rates to a specific, pre-defined frame rate. Its uses are many - for
example, frame rates in decade-old games can be limited to 30 to prevent
incompatibility issues; frame rates in today’s games can be limited to
60, preventing the GPU from working to the max, reducing heat and noise
output; and frame rates can be capped to the monitor’s refresh rate,
preventing tearing without enabling VSync.GeForce GTX 680 owners get the added benefit of even greater power savings when using NVIDIA Frame Rate Target, as the card’s GPU Boost technology can work in concert with Frame Rate Target to dynamically overclock and
underclock the GPU based on the pre-defined frame rate.

Performance Improvements

The new drivers also improve
performance on GeForce 400 and 500-series GPUs in the two dozen games. The largest improvement was again found in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,
the world’s most popular role-playing game. According to Nvidia, performance increased by 17-20% at 2560x1600 using the most demanding
game settings available (similar gains were recorded at 1920x1080). Using the less-demanding High detail preset, Nvidia recorded an indoor
improvement of up to 23.5% at the same resolution, and in outdoor
environments we saw improvements of up to 17.9% on High, and 16.8% on
Ultra. These improvements apply to almost all 400 and 500-series GPUs, Nvidia claims.Other performance improvements were found in Batman: Arkham City, Bulletstorm, Civilization V, Just Cause 2, StarCraft II, and Shogun 2, to name but a few.

Other GTX 560 Ti SLI improvements of note: up to 5.2% extra
performance in Batman: Arkham City, up to 3.82% extra performance in
Deus Ex: Human Revolution, up to 3.65% extra performance in Dragon Age
2, up to 3.15% extra performance in F1 2011, up to 4.33% extra
performance in Metro 2033, and up to 4.15% extra performance in Shogun
2: Total War.On
a 2-Way SLI GeForce GTX 580 system, Bulletstorm performance improved by
8.11%, Civilization V performance improved by 6.43%, Far Cry 2
performance improved by 14.12%, Just Cause 2 performance improved by
23.21%, and StarCraft II performance improved by 16.71%.Detail Settings:

Bulletstorm: 2560x1600, max settings.

Far Cry 2: 1920x1080, DirectX 10, max settings.

Just Cause 2: 1920x1080, DirectX 10, max settings.

Shogun 2: Total War: 1920x1080, DirectX 11, max settings.

Other GTX 580 SLI improvements of note: up to 5.79% extra performance
in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, up to 3.91% extra performance in DiRT 3,
up to 5.55% extra performance in Dragon Age 2, up to 3.75% extra
performance in F1 2011, up to 4.41% extra performance in Hard Reset, up
to 4.70% extra performance in Metro 2033, and up to 4.58% extra
performance in Total War: Shogun 2.New & Updated SLI ProfilesThe new GeForce driver also includes new and updated profiles
for today’s top titles, increasing performance and unleashing the full
power of SLI systems.

Alan Wake

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Call of Juarez: The Cartel

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Crusader Kings II

Deus Ex: Human Revolution - The Missing Link

Left 4 Dead

Max Payne 3

Orcs Must Die!

Portal 2

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City

Risen 2: Dark Waters

Sniper Elite V2

Street Fighter X Tekken

The Darkness II

New & Updated 3D Vision Profiles

New and updated 3D Vision profiles are also included in the GeForce
301.42 WHQL drivers.

GeForce 400 series: There is no picture when using LAV DirectShow Filters on MPC-HC for MPEG4 video playback.

GeForce 400/400M series: HDMI displays - Changes made to the NVIDIA
Control Panel->Adjust Desktop Color Settings->Content type (ITC)
reported to the display setting are not preserved across system reboots
or suspend/resume cycles.

GeForce 500 series: Mass Effect – Anti-aliasing turns off for some objects at various positions.

SLI: GeForce 400 series - If SLI is enabled immediately after
installing the driver, there is screen corruption upon system boot up.
If SLI is not enabled, then there is no option to enable SLI after the
system boots up.